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From the Sunday Times.
Conservative MPs are preparing for another snap general election as they fear the Brexit deadlock will become insurmountable for the prime minister. Some have spoken to their local party associations asking to be readopted as prospective parliamentary candidates in readiness for an autumn election. The back-bench MPs acted after meeting Theresa May last week for a private Brexit briefing as she tried to stop a row over Britain’s future customs relationship with the European Union tearing the party apart. But far from being reassured by meeting the prime minister, they left Downing Street convinced that another election could be around the corner. One Tory Brexiteer said he could not see how the government could “square the circle” and come up with a solution on Britain’s future trading relationship with the EU that would appease both sides of the warring party. “It’s becoming clear there’s no compromise that will keep remainers such as Nicky Morgan, Anna Soubry and Dominic Grieve happy as well as the likes of myself and Jacob Rees-Mogg,” the MP said. “The numbers are against us and if we face repeated defeats when the withdrawal bill returns to the Commons, the only alternative will be to kick over the table and trigger a vote of no confidence in the prime minister, which will likely lead to another general election.
“After speaking with like-minded colleagues, I have raised this with my association chairman and asked them to get on with readopting me as the candidate in my seat in anticipation that we could go to the polls as early as the autumn. I am even preparing my first leaflet drop for the summer.”
Labour MPs are also discussing the prospect of an October poll. A Labour Party insider said: “I heard two separate reports from MPs who said they had heard Conservative MPs planning for an early election.”
The revelation will heap further pressure on May, who is facing a backlash over her plans to keep the whole of the UK tied to a customs union with the EU after 2021, or until an alternative to a hard border in Ireland can be found. Eurosceptics fear the proposal could lead to Britain being tied to the customs union indefinitely. Rees-Mogg, the leader of a 60-strong group of Eurosceptic Tory MPs, has condemned the idea as “perpetual purgatory”. Andrew Bridgen, another member of the European Research Group, said: “If the plan is staying tied to a customs union until we find something better, the EU will never offer us anything better and we will never get out.”
At least a dozen hardline Brexiteers think leaving the EU with no deal would be better, according to reports. They are expected to renew calls for the appointment of a “no deal” cabinet minister to show that Britain is prepared to walk away from the negotiations. However, in his last speech as the president of the Confederation of British Industry, Paul Drechsler will back calls for Britain to remain in the customs union.
At the CBI annual dinner on Tuesday, he will say: “We need to break the Brexit logjam and fast because there’s so much more that we need to get on with. A pragmatic decision to be in a customs union with the EU would allow us to move on.